During the 1960s, Brooke Bundy was looking for her big break as an actress. She had appeared on some of the more notable TV shows of the decade, but was never a main star, instead having frequent spots in a minor supporting role. At the turn of the decade, though, it appeared that Bundy was finally going to get her big chance in what would be a spin-off from the newly formed “Brady Bunch”. Of the two series, however, one would find success while the other was so short lived that it didn’t even make it to air.

Bundy was born on August 8, 1944 in New York City, and didn’t have to wait long until she started to land acting roles. Bundy’s first gig as a performer would come in her late teenage years, when she made an appearance on “The Donna Reed Show” in 1962, Shortly thereafter, Bundy was making frequent one-episode appearances in popular shows such as “The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet”, “My Three Sons” and “Gunsmoke”.

Times were much different back when Bundy was getting her start, taking any job that she could. “In those days, there were maybe five of us going around to these different jobs,” she said. “And you could do the same show multiple times. Today, you guest on a show once and that’s it...Your agent would simply tell you they were casting a role and to go down and read for it.”

Many shows throughout the 1970s were producing spin-offs, and “The Brady Bunch” figured to be no exception. During the early part of the decade, Bundy was continuing in making supporting roles, and got an appearance on “The Brady Bunch” in the show’s final season on an episode that was titled “Kelly’s Kids”. The episode was aired to introduce the characters Ken and Kathy Kelly, with Bundy’s on-screen husband being played by Ken Berry.

Like “The Brady Bunch”, “Kelly’s Kids” was set to have a non-traditional family as the couple had adopted multiple sons. As the children on “The Brady Bunch” were getting older, it was a way to introduce younger characters yet again, hoping to spawn the same kind of success that the original “Brady Bunch” once enjoyed. The episode was essentially considered to be a pilot episode for the spin-off series, but it didn’t get picked up by any networks.

With that, Bundy was once again looking for a regular series. It wouldn’t be until the 1980s that the premise of the show was made by “Brady Bunch” creator Sherwood Schwartz, but the title was changed to “Together We Stand”, and wouldn’t last for very long. Bundy would go back to spending the rest of the 1970s in one-off appearances on shows like “McMillan and Wife”, “CHiPs” and “Land of the Lost” before finding sustainability.

Like many that are looking for regular work, Bundy would also turn her attention to the soap opera world. For the final part of the decade, Bundy starred in both “Days of Our Lives” and then “General Hospital”. The former model that eventually turned to acting hadn’t taken formal classes before her soap opera days, but received a lot of praise from fans for her two notable roles.

There were some that she worked with that had tried to get her to change how she acted, but Bundy knew what she was doing. “I remember being told to do things differently,” she said. “And I thought, ‘Do what differently?’...It was strange hearing that at that point in my career, and I said, ‘Look, I’ve made my living doing this - and a very good living.’”

She’d then take the first part of the 1980s off before making her way to film. During that time, Bundy would appear in movies such as “Explorers” and “Stewardess School”, and then had one of her most notable roles in 1987 in the third film of the “A Nightmare on Elm Street” horror series. Appearing in horror films is something that Bundy hadn’t planned on doing, but it ended up being one of her best choices in her opinion.

“My wonderful agent talked me into it and it’s the gift that keeps giving,” she said. The next year, Bundy appeared in the sequel. By 1990, though, Bundy had made her final non-documentary appearance in the TV series “Sons and Daughters”. Since then, we’ve yet to see Bundy in another role.

Bundy has since said that she hopes that her future doesn’t involve a lot of acting, but rather “Opportunities to meet fans” while also doing private acting coaching. For someone that’s popped up on television in some of the most notable shows of all-time throughout her long career, Bundy is a good person to take advice from. After all, she was willing to take on any role imaginable, citing money as the biggest motivator.

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